Association for Behavior Analysis International

Se va a describir un procedimiento para la enseÑanza de lenguaje receptivo referido al esquema corporal. Lo que se persigue es la comprensión de las diferentes partes que conforman el cuerpo humano, en un niÑo de diez aÑos de edad diagnosticado con Autismo. Es un niÑo con intención comunicativa, que no posee control ecoico y muestra dificultades para la realización de imitaciones y seguir instrucciones referidas al lenguaje receptivo de su propio esquema corporal. El procedimiento ha consistido en desarrollar un programa de discriminación condicional del esquema corporal sobre una imagen con la cara del propio niÑo. Para ello, se ha llevado a cabo la aplicación de dos operantes de forma consecutivas. En un primer momento, se solicita la discriminación de una imagen referidas a una parte del cuerpo, dentro de una comparación de mínimo dos imágenes. Inmediatamente, se indica al niÑo que coloque la imagen en el lugar correspondiente de la silueta. Después de realizar la segunda operante se le proporciona el refuerzo. Con este procedimiento se ha conseguido el aprendizaje de diferentes partes del cuerpo ("Boca", "Nariz", "Ojo", "Oreja", "Pelo", "Cabeza", "Pecho", "Barriga", "Pierna", "Brazo", "Mano" y "Pie") en un corto periodo de tiempo.

The aim of this work is to acquire and develop text comprehension orally in a ten-year-old and six months child diagnosed with Asperger Disorder. He is a verbal child capable of reading and writing but with difficulties to comprehend texts and select relevant information. The procedure involves the application and fading of visual and echoic support as well as the development of the intraverbal during the reading of diverse children's texts for pre-school and primary school children. The reading is firstly done by the child and then by the therapist. Once the reading is finished, the text is taken away from the child and questions related to characters, actions, places and the aim of character's actions are asked. Through this procedure it has been possible to keep a high level of attention while listening to the reading and a more appropriate response to the questions without visual support.

Previous applied studies have identified a number of effective teaching procedures to increase the verbal communication of children with developmental difficulties (e.g: mands, tacts, Kelley, Shillyngsburg, Castro, Addison and LaRue, 2007; Wallace, Iwata and Hanley, 2006). Nevertheless, these procedures not always adjust to the individual needs of some children. We will briefly describe a procedure to teach tacts in a six-year- old and seven months child with a childhood disintegrative disorder. He is a verbal child who has no emerging mands and who has so far shown some learning difficulties, retention and generalization of tacts following commonly used procedures to teach those. In this case, the child has not acquired tacts during the training sessions of tacts. A procedure where intraverbal and tacts are combined is carried out and, consequently, the performance and effectiveness of learning tacts in two or three dimensions increase. As a result, the sessions lead to an increase of spontaneous vocalization to tact and mand for reinforcing items ("ball", "water", "chair", "milk", "pencil", "glass", "comb").

One of the most common deficiencies in the verbal repertoires of children with autism and related disorders is the absence of socially appropriate vocal mands. The purpose was teaching vocal mands through social behavior in a child of five years old with verbal repertories diagnose with autism who do not often emit vocal mands. It was designed a procedure to teach complex mands using social and sensorial reinforcement (e.g., tickle, turns), it was the first step to allow the child to ask for more. Increasing the ratio of vocalizations (e.g., tickle, turns, kiss, hugs) we included tangible, edible and nonedible items (e.g., chips, DVD, music) to the procedure. Thereafter, with prompts and reinforcement contingencies the child started to make complex mands with social component to adults. Prioritizing social behavior in child diagnoses with autisms permit to gains access to environmental stimuli and contingencies that would be otherwise unavailable. These contingencies may shape other behaviors such as social play, and interactions with siblings and become in a cusp, as defined by Rosales-Ruiz and Baer (1997), is "a behavior change that has consequences for the organism beyond the change itself, some of which may be considered important".

The aim of this work is to acquire and develop text comprehension orally in a ten-year-old and six months child diagnosed with Asperger Disorder. He is a verbal child capable of reading and writing but with difficulties to comprehend texts and select relevant information. The procedure involves the application and fading of visual and echoic support as well as the development of the intraverbal during the reading of diverse childrens texts for pre-school and primary school children. The reading is firstly done by the child and then by the therapist. Once the reading is finished, the text is taken away from the child and questions related to characters, actions, places and the aim of characters actions are asked. Through this procedure it has been possible to keep a high level of attention while listening to the reading and a more appropriate response to the questions without visual support.

A Teaching Model for Reading in Spanish, based on the literacy method "Micho" combined with procedures of verbal behaviour, is described in this paper. This so-called MICHO-VB method includes the following tools: auditory perception, production of phonemes associated with meaningful sounds, visual perception of graphemes, support of sound production with gestures and fine and gross motor skills. Children are required to posses the following skills before starting to read: generalized imitation, Naming (Greer, 2008), high echoic level, general tacts and having started intraverbals. More studies are necessary to identify the pre-requisites that facilitate the learning of reading and writing. Several procedures are used to create conditioning for stories, fine motor skills, auditory orientation and conditioning, auditory discrimination and the necessary aspects to ease the learning process. The MICHO-VB method is formed by the use of shaping, fading, intraverbal teaching, token economy, systematic recording and individual and social reinforcements. Our experience in the use of this method with groups of three children is still very little, but the success in the teaching process of reading shows that with certain improvements and further research this could be an effective method for children with autism.

A significant percentage of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) fail to develop sufficient speech to meet their communication needs and are therefore candidates for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). There is debate as to which AAC system is best suited to these children. The purpose of this study was to compare the acquisition of, and preference for, three AAC systems. Four children with autism, ages 6-13 years, were taught to mand preferred objects using speech-generating devices (SGD), picture exchange (PE), and manual signs. Intervention was introduced across participants in a multiple-baseline design and acquisition across the three AAC systems was compared in an alternating treatments design. Preference checks were conducted to determine if the children showed a preference for one AAC option over the others. All children showed increased use of AAC to make requests when intervention was introduced. One participant exhibited a preference for the SGD and PE, one did for PE, and the remaining two did for the SGD. The results support previous studies showing that individuals with ASD often show a preference for different AAC options and extend previous research by suggesting that acquisition and maintenance was better when the person used their more preferred option.

Applied behavioral analysis (ABA) was used in educational settings. Early education using the methods of ABA has shown to produce important gains in many children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) or at risk for ASD. Notably, one of the ABA-based practice is early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) has demonstrated strong evidence for its efficacy. Outcomes of many studies show that EIBI enhances IQ levels, skill development and inclusion opportunities. Also, it decreases autistic symptoms in children with ASD (e.g. Lovaas, 1987). Although ABA-based practice is utilized in Turkey, EIBI is a new development in Turkey. The purpose of this poster presentation is to provide information regarding the first year of ABA-based educational input and implementation process with one toddler at high risk for ASD. In addition, child’s performance will display according to OCIDEP-IZ results (see, Table 1). Also, qualitative data about the effects of the education on the participant will be presented. This study is expected to be useful for delivering ABA-based practice in Turkey and other international literature. Keywords: Autism, early intensive behavioral intervention, applied behavior analysis. References Lovaas, O. I. (1987). Behavioral treatment and normal educational and intellectual functioning in young autistic children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 3-9. Footnotes OCIDEP-IZ is a early childhood performance assessment tool consisting of four developmental areas: matching, imitation, receptive language and expressive language. Each developmental area consists of five characteristics (Kircaali-Iftar, G. (2007). Behavioral intervention program assesment tool for ASD. Unpublished Assessment Tool.)

Up to 90% of children with autism exhibit feeding problems, the most common is food selectivity or picky eating. Many studies have investigated interventions that are effective for children with feeding problems, however few studies have examined interventions appropriate and effective for use in the classroom setting. In the current study, shaping, a token system, positive reinforcement, and escape prevention procedures were used with one student with autism and food selectivity to increase acceptance of food. All of the sessions were conducted in a classroom setting. Results showed that the use of reinforcement and the token system were not as effective as the escape prevention procedures with differential reinforcement to increase overall food acceptance for the student.

This study explores responses for visual, auditory and tactile stimuli in order to see how to respond through interactions between robot and children labeled with autism. Robots have visual, auditory and tactile stimuli. The subject of this study are three male children labeled with autism. The method of this study three people observe and record for 14 sessions of responses of children labeled with autism to stimuli. The observation notes are analyzed by responses and frequency. The result of this study indicates children labeled with autism responses to auditory stimuli. The order of response frequency is auditory, visual, tactile stimuli. Children labeled with autism show tendency that they response better the stimuli that they prefer such as stimuli that they are familiar with. This indicates that robots that have stimuli that children labeled with autism prefer thus can be utilized for improving the outcome of interventions for children labeled with autism.

Pairing a therapist with reinforcement is commonly advised when initiating behavioural intervention programmes with children with autism. While much research has been carried out on stimulus-stimulus pairing, there has been little empirical evaluation of the effects of pairing individuals with reinforcement. The present study examined the effect of pairing a therapist with positive reinforcement on the task engagement and challenging behaviour of children with autism. Two children with autism participated in a multiple-probe across participants design. Experimental functional analyses indicated escape from task demands as the primary maintaining variable for both participants’ challenging behaviour. A therapist conducted multiple pairing sessions with each participant across a 4 week period. While an increase in task engagement was observed after the pairing procedure was introduced for one participant, the data for the second participant were not conclusive. No significant effects on challenging behaviour were observed. The present study represents an initial analysis of an under-researched topic, which merits further investigation.

The purpose of the intervention is to decrease self-injurious behavior (SIB) by blocking attempts to self-injure, differentially reinforcing behaviors other than self-injury (DRO) and increasing the ability to communicate using the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). The study was conducted with a four-year-old boy diagnosed with Autism. The setting was a classroom with a 1:1 student to teacher ratio in an out-of-district special education school. After a functional behavior assessment was completed, we concluded that the student’s self-injurious behavior was maintained by attention, escape, gaining access to tangible items and sensory stimulation. The student was non-verbal and did not have an appropriate way to communicate a request for attention or a break. The student pointed to toys and other items he wanted. PECS was introduced to give the student a way to communicate his needs. A differential reinforcement of other behavior beginning at a one minute interval was used to reinforce the student with praise and appropriate physical interaction in the absence of self injury. The self-injurious behavior was stopped using as little physical contact as possible and no eye contact. PECS training was introduced two days after the DRO was introduced. The data showed a high rate of 134 instances of SIB prior to the intervention. The intervention decreased the instances of SIB to a low of 0. The results indicate that the combination of DRO and PECS worked to decrease the instances of SIB for this student.

The purpose of this study is to replicate the findings of Karmali, Greer, Nuzzolo- Gomez, Ross & Rivera-Valdes – Reducing Palilalia by Presenting Tact Corrections to Young Children with Autism (2005) The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 21, 145-153. A seven year old female student with autism who attends a special needs school in a large metropolitan area is the participant in this study. We are utilizing a multiple baseline design across two settings: work and play. The purpose of this intervention is to replace palilalia with mands and tacts. The procedure consists of interrupting palilalia with a tact correction. When the student engages in rapid, nonsense talk, she is interrupted with a phrase related to the task she is engaging in or about something salient to the environment. The results replicate those of the aforementioned study, indicating that this procedure is effective in the reduction of palilalia.

Regardless of the conceptual analysis of human development, all theoreticians recognize the importance of children learning skills by observing the actions of others. Numerous studies have found impairments in imitation skills (defined as when one organism duplicates the behavior modeled by another organism (Catania, 1972)), in children with autism, compared to both their typically-developing peers and those with other cognitive delays (Ham, Corely, Rajendran, Carletta, & Swanson, 2008). Recent research has found that a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is more likely to attain higher levels of development if he has some imitative skills prior to the implementation of intervention services Sallows & Graupner, 2005; Weiss, 1999). Although the development of initial imitation skills are frequently included in intervention programs for young children with ASD and are often used in the development of other critical skills including play and other social interaction skills (Ingersoll & Schreibman, 2006), there is still very little research that has identified how to teach imitation skills when children lack simple imitative skills and how to develop an effective repertoire of imitation skills in students with ASD. (Accardo, 2004; Ingersoll & Schreibman, 2006; Ryan, 2007). After a review of the literature revealed that there were a wide variety of imitative skills that were included in research articles and program development guides, an imitation skills assessment was developed (Partington, 2007) that provided the ability to assess a wide range of types of imitative skills (108 skills from 12 imitative domains). In the first study, the Partington Imitation Skills Assessment was administered to four typically developing preschoolers and demonstrated that these children could easily imitate the actions in the assessment with a high degree of accuracy. In the second study, this assessment was administered to four young children with ASD who attended a special education class prior to and following the implementation of a discrete trial program designed to teach specific imitative skills to each child. The results of the intervention indicated that the teaching strategies resulted in improvements in both the number and variety of different types of imitation skills for each of the participants.

Level 1 of visual perspective taking (VPT) consists of making correct verbal inferences about the visual perception of oneself and other person, when both are seeing different things at the same time. We have identified three prerequisites to show Level 1 of VPT in typically developing children: (a) following the gaze, (b) the discrimination between what oneself and other person can or cannot see, and (c) the personal pronouns "I" and "you" as responses. The goal of this study was to analyze the Level 1 of VPT and these prerequisites in persons with autism. The participants were 13 children and adolescents, their ages were from 5 to 19 years old. All the participants were evaluated in a target probe of Level 1 of VPT and in 7 possible prerequisites. Three participants succeeded the target probe of Level 1 of VPT and the prerequisites previously identified. The remaining participants did not succeed the target probe of Level 1 of VPT and neither all the prerequisites. This result replicated the obtained with typically developing children.

The purpose of this study was to introduce the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) to the parents who have a child with autism and enable them to participate to implementation of PECS. This study was conducted with parents of a child with autism who was attending to Developmental Disability Unit of the Research Institute for the Handicapped at Anadolu University, Turkey. A four-step parent training program was developed. Parent training sessions were administered at a meeting room in the Research Institute. Information about features and phases of PECS were introduced during the first session. Parents watched several video clips representing the implementation of PECS during this session. During the subsequent sessions information and videoclips about Phase I & II and Phase III in the PECS were presented respectively. At the end of the each session, the acquisition levels of the parents were tested. Furthermore, parents were asked to write their opinions about each session in a diary. Brief sessions were arranged at the end of the study to observe and record the behaviors of the parents and the child when they were using PECS.

This intervention was designed to decrease spitting in a nine-year-old boy with autism. The participant attends a one to one applied behavior analysis program in a large metropolitan area. Functional assessments indicated that this behavior was being maintained by automatic reinforcement. His spitting behavior occurred on a continuous basis, interfering with his learning at school and preventing him from accessing a larger community of reinforcement. For the baseline condition we collected data on a one-to-one minute interval throughout the entire school day. The procedure consisted of delivering praise and an edible reinforcer on a one-minute interval (DRO) throughout the school day. Data was compiled into 3 graphs. We graphed (1) frequency of intervals with occurrence of spitting, (2) the rate per minute of occurrences and (3) percentage of intervals in which the behavior occurred. The results indicated that the procedure was successful at decreasing spitting and extinguishing the behavior.

This case study exemplifies the power of applied behavior analysis in two important areas of the life of a child diagnosed with autism: toilet training and food selection. Toilet training is a major milestone in achieving independence in early childhood that is often delayed (or missed entirely) in children with autism. This poster will demonstrate the use of applied behavior analysis to increase independence in a preschooler diagnosed with Autism through systematic toilet training. Food selectivity is another common problem in children with Autism; in fact, their choices often include items with little or no nutritional value. The present study was designed to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables in a preschooler diagnosed with autism to find more healthy alternative edible reinforcers. The use of the Premack principle and shaping led to a decrease in problem behaviors and increase in food consumption.

The atypical antipsychotic drug clozapine has multiple pharmacological actions, some of which, including 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT2) and histamine (H1) receptor antagonist effects, are shared by the non-selective 5-HT receptor antagonist cyproheptadine. Here we examined the effects of cyproheptadine and clozapine on progressive ratio schedule performance in rats, using Killeens’s (1994) mathematical model of schedule controlled behaviour. We also assessed the effects of a conventional antipsychotic, haloperidol, and a benzodiazepine with appetite-enhancing effects, chlordiazepoxide. Clozapine (3.75, 7.5 mg kg-1) increased the motivational parameter of Killeen’s model (a) and a parameter that is inversely related to the ‘motor capacity’ of the organism (d). Haloperidol (0.05, 0.1 mg kg-1) increased d but reduced a. Chlordiazepoxide (3, 10 mg kg-1) increased a but reduced d. Interpretation based on Killeen’s model suggests that cyproheptadine and clozapine enhanced the incentive value of the reinforcer and impaired motor performance. Motor impairment may be due to sedation (possibly reflecting H1 receptor blockade). Enhancement of incentive value may reflect simultantaneous blockade of H1 and 5-HT2 receptors, which has been proposed as the mechanism underlying the appetite-enhancing effect of cyproheptadine. In agreement with previous findings, haloperidol impaired motor performance and reduced the incentive value of the reinforcer.

The Elevated Plus-Maze was adapted to assess the effects of the association between morphine administration and a previous aversive environment, in a Conditioned Place Preference procedure. This study aimed to assess environmental and pharmacological effects of addiction not assessed by other animal models. Seventy two rats were divided into six groups, in which five were administrated with morphine solution (0,0; 0,3; 1,0; 5,0 and 10,0 mg/kg) or saline and were exposed to the open or the closed arms of the maze, respectively, for four consecutive alternated days. The sixth group was only administrated with saline, not being exposed. At the fifth day, all groups were exposed to the maze in a five-minute test. As a result, without the drug administration the open arms exploration was reduced, suggesting that the aversion elicited by these compartments have enlarged. This effect was prevented by the morphine conditioning in doses of 1,0 and 5,0 mg/kg, that cause conditioned place preference at the pattern model. However, it is not prevented in the anxiolytic dose of 0,3 mg/kg. These results indicate that this procedure can assess the reinforcing effects of drugs administration, featuring the advantage of studying addiction in a context where aversive stimuli are presented.

Objectives: Behavior Change techniques are the vertebral column to obtain the clinical change. These tools are based on the learning and conditioning psychology paradigm. In this way, what's the importance of the manner that therapist express the instructions for setting up those strategies? In order to response to this question, the aim of the present research is to study the typology of therapist instructions with the goal of establishing some first hypothesis of the influence of these therapist verbalizations in clinical change. Method: 20 fragments of video-taped sessions of clients attending counseling in a private psychological clinic of Madrid were analyzed. Using an observational methodology and a coding system, the clinical sessions were registered according to the instructional categories previously elaborate and refined through the unsystematic observations of clinical sessions with The Observer XT software instrument. Results: Data were discussed in terms of find out differences in typology of instructions depending on the experience of therapist and the moment in which the treatment is. (Graphics [1]) Conclusion: Results will be useful to figure out some first hypothesis of the rule of instructions just as the importance of these verbalizations to getting the clinical change.

Each year about 100 children are injured in Iceland when they fall out of shopping-carts. The aim of this study was to try to affect the behavior of parents who place their children into the shopping-carts. A picture-card was put on the rear side of shopping-carts in four supermarkets in the Reykjavíks metropolitan area such that they faced the parent when rolling the cart. The picture-card showed a child standing in a shopping-cart but had a diagonal line accross the picture and a circle around it as is typical of traffic signs that note a ban. A mixed multiple-baseline across shops and ABA withdrawal design evaluated the effect of the intervention. Results indicated that the intervention had a major impact on parents target behavior, it decreased dramatically. This simple procedure has the potential to decrease accidents that take place as a consequence of parents placing children in shopping-carts.

The Japanese students with developmental disabilities often showed some difficulties of reading and writing response for English as second language. Many researchers argued that the matching-to-sample (MTS) procedure and constructed-response matching-to-sample (CRMTS) procedure was effective to construct the equivalence relations. After these trainings, many participants showed the transfer to other topographic responses such as reading and writing. In this study, two students with developmental disabilities participated, who had difficulties for the reading and writing in English. We developed the computer-based and mobile phone-based MTS and CRMTS training and delivered one via Internet. These students were required to select or construct the correct word as faster as they could. We collected the data included correct response rate and response time via Internet and delivered new learning set. As results, two students not only could choose and construct the correct words. There results were discussed in terms of the equivalence relations and the effectiveness of distance learning.

The present study was conducted to investigate whether a music therapy could improve communication activities of a child of age 10 with developmental disorder. The client showed difficulties in social relationships with others. Five therapy sessions were carried out based on the alternating-treatments design of applied behavior analysis. Each session consisted of baseline and intervention conditions. During the baseline, the child was presented with the no-music tasks, and received the music therapy during the intervention. The number of conversation cycles between the client and her therapist (NCC) was counted as a behavioral measure. Figure 1 shows the NCC on each therapy session. In the 1st and 2nd sessions the NCC in the intervention were lower than that of the baseline, but became higher in the following three sessions. Further, the client’s music skills improved owing to the music therapy. Furthermore, the child’s mother reported the increase of the child’s desirable communication activities in their family and her school. From these results, we concluded that applied behavior analysis could become the scientific basis for music therapy and herewith proved the effectiveness of music therapy.

Study Objective: The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of self-monitoring and token economy system on improving inappropriate behaviors of a student with developmental disabilities. Design: A-B design. Setting: A therapy room at the university and regular elementary school setting. Participant: a boy (six years old, IQ 120) with learning disabilities and ADHD participated in this study. Independent variables: self-monitoring procedure and token economy system were introduced. After the student recorded own behavior occurred at his classes, he acquired token according to self-monitoring sheets in the university. Measure: on-task behavior and aggressive behavior were evaluated. Results: After the intervention, on-task behavior was increased, and aggressive behavior was decreased. Conclusion: The results suggested that self-monitoring and token economy system were effective in improving appropriate behavior (on-task) as well as inappropriate behavior (aggression) at the school setting. These behaviors were controlled by token, and were evaluated positively by his parents and teacher who red the self-monitoring sheets. It may that the intervention of this study improved his social environment in school and home settings.

This poster presents the findings of a systematic literature review on empirical studies using iPods® and iPads® in ABA interventions for individuals with special educational needs. Portable devices, such as the iPod Touch® and the iPad®, can be useful tools to teach a range of skills to individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities. The portability of these devices means training can be provided in any setting and at any time. In addition, they are widely available and relatively cheap when compared with specialized assistive technology equipment. Numerous anecdotal reports exist on the educational benefits of iPods®, but little empirical evidence is available. The objective of this review was to provide a synthesis of the current state of research employing iPods® and iPads® to teach new skills to individuals with special educational needs. The systematic search procedure located 10 relevant studies. Results suggest these portable devices can be successfully used in interventions as, for instance, a speech generating device or to deliver video modelling instruction. The use of iPods® and iPads® in special education interventions is a relatively new research area, but findings are promising and warrant further investigation.

Music therapy has been generally used in the training of social interaction, communication, peer communication, and cooperation skills of individuals with special needs. However, there is a need to review descriptively the studies conducted on music therapy with individuals with special needs. Therefore, this study intends; (a) to present descriptively the effectiveness of music therapy, (b) to analyze and discuss various variables in the studies, (c) to propose suggestions for further studies. In the scope of this purpose, 14 studies, which corresponds to the pre-determined criteria, were found and analyzed descriptively. Individuals with autism spectrum disorders, mental retardation, emotional and behavioral retardation, rett’s syndrome, apraxy, learning disabilities, and neurological retardation were participants in these studies. Results of effectiveness studies indicated that music therapy was effective on 96 % of the participants in these studies. Discussions and suggestions for future research are provided.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of constant time delay (CTD) procedure in teaching pre-school academic skills to children with developmental disabilities in a small group teaching arrangement. In addition, the extent achieved by learning through observation in a small group teaching arrangement was also examined. Four children with developmental disabilities participated in the study. To examine the effectiveness of the CTD multiple probe design across behaviors was used. Findings of the study indicated that CTD was effective in teaching different pre-school academic skills to children with developmental disabilities by use of different stimuli in a small group teaching arrangement. Subjects were determined to retain their skills one, three, and four weeks after the training sessions were terminated, and they were also noted to generalize the target skills across different settings, people, and materials. Moreover, children were also identified to have learned the skills with high precision through observation.

The main goal of this study was to identify the relations between visual perspective taking (VPT) and false belief (FB) skills. The participants were 15 typically developing children, their ages ranged from 4-to-5 years. Each participant was evaluated in one probe of Level 1 of VPT, 3 probes of Level 2 of VPT (with verbal, picture-selection, and object-selection responses), and 2 FB probes (the appearance-reality and Sally and Ann probes). Fourteen children passed the probe of Level 1 of VPT, 15 children passed one or more of the 3 probes of Level 2 of VPT, and 10 children passed at least one of FB probes. This data showed that (a) 6 children passed the 2 FB probes, the Level 1 of VPT probe, and the Level 2 of VPT with verbal and photo selection responses, (b) 5 children did not pass the FB probes but they met the criterion in the Level 1 of VPT probe and at least in the Level 2 of VPT with verbal responses. These data show that these skills are mainly independent from one another and they could need different pre-requisites to be acquired.

Four groups were exposed to particular sequence of training using matching-to-sample task. The stimuli were colored shapes indicating a sample-comparison relation (i.e. identity, similarity and difference). In stereotypy condition, respond by repeating the same relation as in the previous trial was reinforced (i.e., always choose identity). In variability condition respond without repeating the relation chosen in the previous trial was reinforced (i.e., first trial choose identity and then similarity). The first group (n=10) was exposed only to stereotypy sequence. Second group was exposed only to variability sequence. Third group was exposed to stereotypy and variability sequence and fourth group was exposed to reverse sequence variability-stereotypy. Results showed that stereotypy training was almost 100% correct responses in all participants who were exposed only to this condition. On variability condition, correct responses increased across training sessions, but never reached 100% correct responses. Participants in stereotypy and variability groups responded in accordance with training on transfer test. The effects of training sequence on transfer were similar for third and fourth groups. Participants from both groups showed more variability. Results suggest that a particular training sequence affect transfer in conditional discrimination tasks.

Play appears often as a functional skill that allows children to engage in interactions with their peers. It is a key skill in the learning curriculum of children with disabilities. We found in the existing research many interventions targeting this behavior; the definitions, measurement, and name of the behaviors, however, vary across studies. These skills have been classified in levels, such as functional play and symbolic play. The purpose of this study was to analyze the utility of a specific behavioral definition of pretend acts and symbolic play behaviors based on previous investigations (Lifter, Sulzer-Azaroff, Anderson, & Cowdery, 1993; Blanc, Adrien, Roux, & Barthélémy, 2005). This definition tries to avoid interpretations about the mental state of the children and tries to be useful for different types of toys and props. The results showed a difference in the predominant type of play dependent on the age of the children. At lower ages children show more play episodes of contact with the toy and manipulation. The older children (2-2,8 years) show less contact play and more functional and symbolic play.

The acceptance and commitment therapy uses metaphors and experiential exercises, such as "milk-milk" verbal interaction to produce desliteralization, where the therapist tries to eliminate the emotional associations of the words. This study tries to verify into an experimental analogous situation what the specific components wich produce emotional changes are. An intergroup design with pre-post measurement was compared for four conditions: (1) this "milk-milk" exercise, (2) repetition of a personal emotional word, (3) verbal shaping of therapist from exercise to emotional word, and (4) control group. The participants were 32 university students (26 women and 6 men), randomized through conditions. The evaluation pre-post was with emotional words from 10 pictures of TAT on computer. The participants evaluated each picture about emotional words and subjective intensity of emotions. Also pre-post questionnaires (AAQ, ERQ, and ATQ) were used. The training of verbal exercises was during 2 sessions 30 minutes. The results shown that emotional evaluation did not change after verbal exercises. There were no statistical significant differences between groups. Unlike other clinical articles, the desliteralization process did not happen into a laboratory situation. We conclude that probably more exercises or time sessions are necessary or perhaps other measurement of emotional changes.

Individuals with autism often display difficulties on the acquisition of symbolic repertoires. The present study investigated the possible relation between previous discriminative repertoires and symbolic functioning in six autistic individuals, two who could perform identity matching but not arbitrary matching (ABLA level 4), and four who could perform identity and arbitrary matching (ABLA levels 5 and 6). Simple discriminations and identity matching between visual stimuli were taught on a touch-screen monitor. Selections of A1, B1 and C1 were reinforced with consequence 1 (sound 1 + edible 1) and A2, B2 and C2 were reinforced with consequence 2 (sound 2 + edible 2). All baseline relations were compatible with participant’s discriminative repertoires, but emergent relations AB, BA, AC, CA, BC and CB were compatible only with the repertoires of participants who matched ABLA levels 5/6. All participants learned the baseline, but equivalence classes were established only in three participants who matched ABLA level 5/6, although all participants showed at least one emergent performance. Results suggest an important role of discriminative repertoires as requisites for symbolic functioning and highlight the possibility that participants who did not display arbitrary matching repertoires could acquire those performances if the teaching procedure establishes the necessary requisites.

A previous study aimed to verify the ability of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in responding to a simple discrimination task and stimuli function reversal in the presence of the objects (non social situation) or humans (non communicative social situation). Only the chimpanzee data presented some significant difference between the conditions. It is possible that the lack of familiarity with the experiments controlled the dogs´ responding. The present study had the objective to replicate the previous study with people familiarized with the dogs. 15 subjects were used, divided into 3 groups: non social group, social group with familiarized experimenters and social group with owners. The procedure was identical to the one of the previous study, being composed of five phases: stimuli familiarization, task familiarization, stimuli preference test, simple discrimination and stimuli function reversal. The results were analyzed through the Mann-Whitney test and did not demonstrate significant differences between the three groups. The hypothesis that the human stimuli gained social function when they were familiar to the dogs was not confirmed. It is possible that the dogs´ ability in social situations is restricted to situations in which occurs communication or cooperation.

Conditional discrimination training based on physical similarity of visual stimuli was given to three dogs. On each trial, subjects were trained to nose poke a sample stimulus (e.g., A1) presented on a touch screen monitor (upper central position). Responding to the sample removed this stimulus and two comparison stimuli (A1 and A2) were presented in the side positions (left-right). Selection of the comparison stimulus physically identical to the sample produced the presentation of a food pellet. Three different techniques have been used so far, to teach the conditional discriminations: a) fading-in the S–; b) distractor stimuli used in place of S–; and c) sessions comprised by a unique sample. The learning criteria were not achieved throughout the sessions and, in most of the cases, subjects chosen the same comparison stimulus in all trials, regardless of the sample. This behavioral pattern suggests that the dogs' performance was controlled by simple discrimination (although under intermittent reinforcement). Some procedural features were pointed out as probably related to these negative results concerning identity matching. Additional modifications are been carried out in order to develop an appropriate procedure for establishing the target behavior

One of the typical experimental situations of choice behavior is the choice between forced-choice and free-choice. Forced-choice situation contains only one alternative. Free-choice situation contains multiple alternatives. Many of those studies demonstrated the preference for free-choice over forced-choice. However, it is still not clear why free-choice is preferred over forced-choice. Therefore, main purpose of the present study was to solve the problem, especially focused on the ‘controllability’ which is contained only in the free-choice. This experiment was conducted by the use of concurrent-chains schedule at the computer display. Participants were required to choose from two situations at the IL; one had controllability (2A-C situation), the other didn’t have controllability (2A-UC situation). Both situations were presented two cards at the TL. At the 2A-C, participants could choose the card in the TL; at the 2A-UC, on the other hand, the card was chosen by the computer automatically, participants couldn’t choose the card instead. In addition, this study set three conditions of irrational condition, equal condition and rational condition by a point to be provided. As a result, at three conditions, significant preferences to the controllable situation (2A-C) were observed. The present study suggests that controllability facilitates the preference for free-choice.

Previous studies have shown that food deprivation can produce a self-deprivation of water in rats. This self-deprivation has been interpreted as evidence that eating and drinking interact with each other. It has been reported that changes in ethanol intake is accompanied by alterations in the pattern of food intake. Ethanol contains enough calories to be considered a macronutrient. This study explores the effects of food deprivation on body weight and food and water consumption when ethanol is available. For this purpose, twenty-four male Wistar rats were deprived of food for 72-hours, followed by a period of 10 days with free access of food and water. After this period, subjects were exposed to two cycles of food deprivation and free access. Ethanol 10% V/V remained available throughout the experiment. The consumption of ethanol, water, food, and body weight were recorded daily. A control group was exposed to the same experimental conditions, except that food and water were available throughout the experiment and had no access to alcohol. Data showed that the availability of ethanol did not produce self-deprivation of ethanol when introduced food deprivation, increased body weight, and feed intake increased slightly in post-deprivation periods. Results are discussed in terms of the interaction between eating, drinking, and body weight under conditions of food restriction and availability of ethanol.

An underinvestigated topic in the context of Pavlovian conditioning concerns the generalization of acquired responses. If one experiences an unconditioned stimulus in relation to a certain stimulus/situation, the acquired responses typically generalize to stimuli that are somehow related to this original stimulus/situation. Most generalization research has focused on perceptual forms of generalization: responses are transferred to stimuli that share perceptual features with the original conditioned stimulus. Clinical practice and daily life experiences, however, clearly suggest that other forms of generalization exist: non-perceptual generalization, or transfer of functions between stimuli that do not share perceptual features, but rather have a symbolic or a functional relation. In this experiment, in which we made use of a conditioned suppression task, we tried to generate functional relations between different background colors, inspired by the research tradition of acquired equivalence/distinctiveness. This phenomenon is based on common outcomes or antecedents. Preliminary results suggest more transfer of conditioned suppression between colors that were followed by the same outcome in a previous phase, compared with colors that were followed by a different outcome. In future research, we will investigate whether this phenomenon can be applied to the domain of fear conditioning.

Experimental data from animal studies suggest that exposure to uncontrollable aversive stimuli produces a subsequent difficulty on operant learning (learned helplessness). However, results have been inconsistent in humans, probably due to methodological differences in relation to animal research. We sought to overcome these differences by manipulating independent variables in college students. Two groups of subjects were exposed to aversive sounds (C and U groups), and one was not manipulated (N group). For the C group, interruption of sound was contingent to variable sequences of responses; for the U group, sound duration was independent of emitted responses. U subjects were divided into four subgroups according to different kinds of feedback provided (Uc and Up), reduced instruction (Ucr), and fixed duration of sounds (Uf). After this manipulation, all participants underwent a maze-solving task. C and N groups had lower latency and greater number of correct responses in comparison to U groups. Among the latter, Up, Uf and Ucr groups showed higher latencies and failures; Uc group showed intermediate pattern. These results replicate the learned helplessness effect in humans, suggesting this procedure is adequate for its study. The role of feedback, instructions, and reinforcement schedule utilized will be discussed.

The present study compare behavioral effects in male and female rats regarding to (1) the learned helplessness (LH) effect (a session of uncontrollable shocks followed by an escape test), and (2) the LH immunization (ten sessions with the appetitive stimulus presentation followed by one of uncontrollable shocks and one for the escape test). Moreover the controllability/uncontrollability and the independent variable predictability/unpredictability were also manipulated. The subjects were randomly assigned into six groups (n= 16): four of them exposed to ten sessions, differing on the treatment at the first phase (predictable/controllable, predictable/uncontrollable, unpredictable/controllable, unpredictable/uncontrollable groups); one group exposed to two sessions (treatment and test - inescapable group) and one exposed directly to test (nonshock group). Each group was composed of two sub-groups (n = 8) of males and females. The results showed that gender was not a relevant variable for LH effect, but it interferes in the immunization effect. These results suggest that gender is a variable that need to be more investigated in the behavioral studies.

Applied behavior analysts have searched for environmental means to sustain student’s active participation in various academic activities. In this study we manipulated the presence or absence of opportunity for task choice and task difficulty on subsequent engagement in the same task during free time. We assessed 48 Japanese undergraduate students individually. The task was a set of puzzles at two levels of difficulty. Students were either free to choose a specific set of puzzles or assigned, instead, the same task in a yoked fashion. The results indicated a large amount of individual differences in the amount of time they spent on the same set of puzzles during free time. There was no uniform effect of either choice or task difficulty. Individual data analyses revealed that students who reported satisfaction with their performance were more self-engaging in the difficult puzzle during free time. Those who derived self-reinforcing effects from choosing a task continued to engage in the puzzle during recess. Reinforcer values of tasks (measured as amount of time on task) are closely associated with personal satisfaction students derive from engagement in a task. Giving a task that they can eventually solve with satisfaction would likely determine sustained efforts.

This study verified if verbal stimuli exert transitive conditioned motivating operation (TCMO) function and if its establishment differs between verbal stimuli and verbal and non-verbal stimuli. Nineteen 18-24 years old undergraduate students participated. A software presented a trial procedure task as slot machine game. Mouse and joystick were used to earn points exchanged for money. Phase 1 was conducted to establish word, pseudo-word or abstract image as a TCMO. First instance of clicking the mouse should be emitted in the presence of presumed TCMO and once a VR12 was completed, a grey circle on screen changed green for 3 seconds, when pulling the joysticks handle scored. If clicking started while absence of TCMO, the circle color changed but pulling the joysticks handle didnt score. In Phase 2 the conditioned reinforcer (green circle) was omitted to verify its effects. Phase 3 was identical to Phase 1. Results in Phase 1 indicated that the TCMO was established for 16 participants. For 13 of them, Phase 2 showed that green circle functioned as conditioned reinforcer. During Phase 3, all 16 participants presented similar performance to Phase 1. Evidence of differences among different stimuli established as TCMO during Phase 1 were observed and discussed.

Activity-based anorexia (ABA) occurs when food availability is restricted to one hour a day and wheel running is freely available the rest of the time. Under such circumstances, rats run excessively and stop eating even during food availability periods. The present study analyzed the development of ABA in two strains of rats. One group of female Wistar Han (WH) and other of female Dark Agouti (DA) were used with the same age. Maintaining the occurrence of the 1-h food period at same time of the light part of the light-dark cycle, it could be enough to develop the normal ABA behavioural in both strains rats. Far from that, the presentation of food to one hour day resulted in DA rats a pronounced body-weight loss, a low food and water intake, and an excessive locomotor activity. Then a second group of DA was used and they were exposed to three hours of food presentation, and their behavioural was more similar to the one of WH rats. At any rate the excessive activity of the DA rats prevents the normal development of ABA in them. Once again, induced control by the external agents shows that there is further research on this line.

Pimelodus blochii is a moderately small catfish common to the rivers of northern South America. Neutrally buoyant it tends to stay on or near the bottoms of rivers but is capable of swimming to the top. In a study involving two Pimelodus blochii, we attempted to use food reinforcement to condition the response of contacting a target location in a test tank. A 3D tracking system that operates on the basis of brightness contrast recorded the position of the fish. In the presence of bright light, however, the fish engaged in a strong phylogenetic escape behavior that interfered with eating. A fading procedure carried out over several months resulted in no appreciable reduction of this interfering behavior. A contingency in which contacting the target location resulted in 20 seconds of darkness with food present in the test tank was then implemented. Both fish responded to the contingency by contacting the target location when the light was on and eating the food during the 20-second periods of darkness. One fish responded almost exclusively on the operant contingency, while the other alternated between the operant and phylogenic contingencies. The results are discussed in terms of the interactions between operant and phylogenetic contingencies.

This study investigated the effects of the error on children's self-report accuracy on different topics (reading, mathematics, game, and music) and verified whether when correspondence training was conducted to only one topic, generalization of the remaining topics occurred. Five children aged 6 to 11 years-old participated. The "Doing" task consisted of reading aloud a written word, playing a computer game, announcing the result of mathematical operations, and naming different auditory or visual stimulus related to music. The "Saying" task consisted of reporting on the accuracy of the performance after the computer's automated feedback. During pretraining, the frequency of corresponding reports was evaluated as a function of the different topics presented. Participants were assigned to different sequences of topics. Correspondence training was conducted, initially, only to the topic in which participants exhibited the lowest levels of accuracy. After training criteria was met, generalized do-say correspondence of untrained topics was then tested. Results indicated that topics as reading and mathematics produced the lowest levels of correspondence. Four out of five children exhibited generalized say-do correspondence after the first correspondence training employed. Different topics seemed to control different patterns of self-report accuracy. Results on posttraining indicated do-say correspondence as a generalized operant behavior.

Identity matching-to-sample relations are an important prerequisite to document stimulus equivalence by children. This study aimed to assess whether two preverbal children, aged 17 (P17) and 20 months (P20), could demonstrate identity visual relations between four abstract toys, their pictures and videotaped moving images of them. Matching-to-sample classical tasks were conducted in an experimental setting. The procedures included response training with familiar objects/videos interspersed with test under extinction of all identity relations individually (photo-object/PO, object-video/OV, photo-video/PV) or two of the three identity relations (PV/OV). Children gave 100% correct responses during the first PO test session. P17 choices were mostly controlled by position after the first session. P20 gave three out four correct responses (75%) during test trials for OV and PV relations whereas this participant gave incorrect responses controlled by stimuli position during the repetitions of the PO test and the PV/OV tests. P20 was additionally trained for the three relations (PO/OV/PV) and gave five out six correct responses (83%) on the last two of four training sessions. Results corroborate previous reports of difficulties found by researchers when trying to obtain stable baseline relations with children without the position bias, as well as to define learning criteria by infants.

Touches of a stimulus on a touch screen monitor by one-year-old infants were shaped by successive approximations. The infants were then trained to discriminate between two stimuli appearing side by side on the screen. Each child sat on a child chair or her mother’s lap at a table facing the screen. Drawings of animals were the stimuli to be discriminated and touching the correct stimulus produced moving figures and 5 seconds of music as a reinforcer. Each session lasted 5 to 10 minutes and included 20 to 50 reinforced trials. For two of the three infants, touches to a drawing were shaped within one session; shaping took five sessions with the third. The discrimination between drawings was trained using an errorless learning procedure with two stimuli (S+ and S-). The visibility of the S-, represented by the density of the drawing, was gradually increased from 0% to 100%. When the infants were first exposed to an S- with 1% visibility (hardly visible to adults), two of them showed novelty preference, touching S- more than S+. After several training sessions, however, all infants had acquired the discrimination with an accuracy of 80% correct or better.

The objective of this study was testing the efficiency of self-monitoring- homework selection and material, evaluation and correction- as a procedure of self-regulation of learning basic arithmetic. Participated 17 students of different elementary school grades with academic deficits, used a multiple-baseline design across individuals, intergroup balanced. Phase A of the study, consisted in the complex aimed base line of arithmetic answers the measurement of the generalization of modalities [operations and written problems (O and P)], classes (with regrouping and without regrouping) and different kinds of answers (quantity of digits to operant and systematic function of the statement) of lesser complexity. Phase B, consisted of instructions, modeling, feedback and positive reinforcement, along with self-evaluation processes- self-register-self-gratification- and self-correction, distributed in two sub-groups by arithmetic conduct, balanced according to the instruction sequence introduced (OP and PO). In phase C, considered a maintenance phase, auto-monitoring was introduced. The results show acquisition, generalization and maintenance of basic arithmetic responses, which emphasizes the self-monitoring as an important procedure in the process of generalization and maintenance of basic arithmetic responses, leading to strengthening the hypothesis that behavioral self-control techniques can produce more stable rates of response that procedures external reinforcement?

Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) can facilitate the development of effective behavior intervention plans (BIPs). This study assessed the effects of increasingly demanding versions of function -based BIPs on students´ disruptive and on-task behaviors. Four male students with ADHD and long-term behavior problems participated in a team-based assessment and intervention process. The students were in 2nd to 3rd grade in two elementary schools and their teachers took part in constructing and implementing the function-based BIPs along with special education teachers and a behavioral consultant. For each student, four to seven versions of BIPs were created over the course of 6 to 13 weeks with gradually increasing demands to foster endurance and independent skills. Single subject ABAB multiple baseline designs over participants were used to demonstrate a functional relationship between BIPs and students´ disruptive and on-task behaviors in general education settings. Results showed that on-task behavior increased from an average of 56% during baseline (A) to 85% during intervention phases (B) and that the frequency of disruptive behavior decreased from on average of 24 per 20 min sessions during baseline to an average of 7 per 20 min sessions during intervention phases. Large effect sizes were observed. Limitations and implications are discussed.

Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and behavior intervention plans (BIPs) are mandated through federal law and there is considerable evidence that these practices can improve the behavior and academic functioning of students with problem behavior. In this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with students to determine their views on their school functioning, teacher practices, and general well-being at school, before and after function-based BIPs were implemented. These students were four boys with ADHD, 7 to 14 years old, with long-term behavior problems that were in some cases alleviated through the use of function-based BIPs. In addition, their parents as well as teachers and administrators in their schools were interviewed to determine their perspectives on FBA and BIPs practices. Findings revealed a generally positive view on function-based BIPs. Students and parents felt that the function-based BIPs had helped the students to improve their social and acdemic functioning at school. Teachers expressed that FBAs and BIPs were effective practices, but found them somewhat time-consuming and at times difficult to implement in inclusive settings. School administrators emphasized that the key to success was the teachers´ positive attitude and consistent implementation of the function-based BIPs. Limitations and implications of these findings are discussed.

This study explored students´ perspective on attending a special school for students with severe behavioral difficulties and examined the effects of Aggression Replacement Training (ART) on their anger control, social skills and moral reasoning. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. Participants were ten students of a special school for students with behavioral and/or emotional difficulties. Most participants had diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder and/or had symptoms of depression and/or anxiety. Teachers were asked to rate students´ social skills. Students were asked what they would do in anger-provoking situations, and to describe steps in performing particular social skills. After four months in the special school, including ten weeks of ART, the evaluation was repeated. Findings indicate that teachers found their students to be more organized, but no other significant differences emerged on the rating scales. However, students had more knowledge of social skills (d = 0.75) and knew more ways of dealing with anger (d = 0.71). The majority of students expressed that ART had helped them, and spoke of increased anger control. Most students indicated that they were unhappy at the special school, but the majority said that they had experienced ART positively.

Early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) has become a relatively widely selected intervention for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and numerous studies have shown EIBI to be more effective than other interventions (see Eikeseth, 2009). Children with Down‘s syndrome usually receive early intervention. However, traditionally these children are not offered EIBI. The only study published on children receiving behavioral intervention with developmental disorders other than autism (Eldevik, Jahr, Eikeseth, Hastings, & Hughes, 2010) showed that they made more progress than children receiving other types of intervention. In this poster an ongoing study on the effects of EIBI for a child with Down‘s syndrome will be described. Data from a multiple baseline design indicate that the child is making progress due to the intervention, showing immediate increase in the level of correct responding from the mean of 36.7%, 0% and 0% to 99.3%, 93.6% and 72.3% respectively across different tasks. Data will also be presented on some process measures, i.e. number of intervention hours per week, average number of discrete learning trials per day and average number of mastered skills per week.

The Norwegian ABA is a registered non-profit organization. Membership is open to anyone interested in behavior analysis and its application. At present it has 900 members, and its steadily growing. The organization is run by a Board of nine members with full executive powers, chaired by a president. There are several regional affiliated chapters and two special interest groups. The Board is elected at the annual General Assembly. The Norwegian Association is an affiliated chapter of the ABA international.

A training program towards inclusion back into the regular education system, was designed for special-education students who were assigned for the transition. 15 studetns, between grades six and nine, participated in the 3-month program.A Changing Criterion Design, was used to assess the implementation of generalization planning strategies and self-management. The participating students were trained in a "simulation class", where challenging conditions, common to the regular eduation system, were presented. These conditions included fade-out of reinforcement schedules, frustrating learning experiences, big class conditions marked by noise and distractions, and more. Under these conditions, the students were required to maintain appropriate learning behaviors such as proper eye contact with the teacher, waiting while completing an assignment, appropriate speech, etc. In addition, the studetns acquired self-management strategies in the form of goal setting and self-evaluation of their own behavior and participation in class. The data suggsts that the students managed to maintain appropriate learning behaviors under increasingly more difficult and less supportive conditions. Furthermore, the participating students were able to evaluate themselves in congruence with teacher evaluations of the students.

Classwide peer tutoring (CWPT) is a pedagogy that requires students to tutor, model and assess peers performance. CWPT has been validated and widely used in general and special education. As an empirically-based pedagogy, CWPT may effectively promote improvement in physical education and therefore should be examined for its effects in this setting as well. This study aimed to investigate the effects of CWPT on students learning in physical education. The 20-day study was conducted with a third-grade class in an inner-city charter school. Participants were 6 at-risk students with social deficits. An A-B-A-B design was employed to examine the effects of CWPT on students correct performance during a two-minute karate task. Baseline phases entailed small-group instruction. Intervention phases consisted student-dyads of the same psychomotor level and reciprocal involvement in tutoring. Correct performance was defined as a trial that included critical elements as pre-stated by the teacher. Performance was directly observed and presented as percent measure of response. An average increase of 42% (range 10-90) of correct trials was inspected during the CWPT intervention, despite variability and overlaps between the phases. Most gains were demonstrated among the moderately-skilled students. Future research should examine additional tutoring arrangements that may facilitate greater improvement.

Social skills are pre-requisites for academic performance and are critical for at-risk students. Efficient education should entail empirically-based interventions to improve both academic and social skills. Classwide peer tutoring (CWPT) is a validated pedagogy that improves academic performance. Yet its effects on social skills learning were rarely examined in physical education. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of CWPT on elementary and secondary students social skills learning in Karate. Both studies were conducted in an urban charter school in third and eighth grade classes for 20 and 27 days respectively. Participants were four students at-risk from each class who had social deficits. An A-B-A-B design was utilized to examine the effects of CWPT on students social skills performance during a two-minute task. The intervention entailed same motor-level dyads who reciprocated in tutoring. Baseline entailed the teachers typical small-group instruction. The social skill measured was students ability to appropriately provide and receive feedback. Findings show an average increase of 6 (range 5-7) behaviors per task during the CWPT intervention for two eighth graders, and an increase of 9 (range 6-12) behaviors for all third graders. CWPT was more effective among elementary-age and low-skilled students.

This study explores the effects of a structured cooperative learning strategy, Classwide Student Tutoring Teams (CSST) upon 8th grade tutors and tutees use of past tense verbs in a Spanish language classroom. The study, conducted with 5 small group of students, focuses on the frequency of tutor error correction as it corresponds to tutor learning. Analysis of weekly student pre- and post-assessments, CSST tutor practice data, teacher interview, and student feedback will be used to examine the effects of CSST to improve students' accuracy in writing past tense verb conjugations in Spanish. Numbers of error corrections made by tutors were counted and correlated with percentage of change between pre- and post-assessment quizzes. As to the effects of CCST tutoring for tutors and tutees, preliminary results indicate that tutors whose home language was Spanish had the lowest pre-assessment scores and made gains equal or greater than peers on post-tests of written grammatical forms.

Failures to learn to read sight-words using picture prompts are often attributed to "blocking". The strength of this effect should depend on the number of reinforced responses to the blocking stimulus prior to its use as a prompt. Eight nondisabled adults learned to verbally label four sets of six Chinese ideograms. Sets 1 and 3 were taught to a criterion of correct responding to all six ideograms within six consecutive trials ("brief" condition). Sets 2 and 4 received four times as many teaching trials as sets 1 and 3 respectively ("extensive" condition). The ideograms were then used as prompts to teach participants to read four corresponding sets of words in an artificial alphabet, with a fixed 5s target-prompt delay. For the first two word lists taught, only two participants gave more correct unprompted responses to words taught using briefly trained versus extensively trained prompts, with six showing the opposite effect. For the second pair of word lists however, six participants gave more unprompted responses to words taught using briefly trained prompts. These results support a blocking interpretation of the effect of picture prompts on acquisition of sight-word reading. Alternative explanations of the results and implications for teaching practice are discussed.

Personnel development is now a days a very common practice within organizations, but Are we really giving the personnel the correct tools for an optimal development? If the organization decides to instruct its personnel in the fire safety area through brigades, the only way to verify the knowledge already owned and acquired during the training is through behavioral evidence because live observation is the only way to be sure how the personnel is going to react. For this research 4 brigades were used in a Mexican paper manufacturing company were no previous formal training existed, the baseline-treatment baseline (ABA) methodology was applied in the exercise of evacuating the facilities according to the active norm. Through this training the observed behaviors were increased to a 67% so the training gave excellent results but the stress factor of not knowing if it was an actual fire or just a simulation has to be considered for future studies.

In order to go one step further in the complex area of processes research, in this study we performed an analysis of verbal interaction between therapists and clients in the clinical setting. Our approach is based on the assumption that the clients? problem behaviors take place in the clinical context, not only in other contexts of their life. In this context these behaviors are manifested in the clients? verbalizations and then the therapist can shape and modify them. To test these ideas we analyzed the verbal interaction between the two protagonists of therapy in a moment to moment basis. To this end we observed and coded 92 recordings of clinical sessions using the Coding System for the Verbal Interaction in Therapy (a validated system to codify therapists? and clients? verbal behavior in clinical settings) and the Observer XT software. We used sequential analysis techniques and found different patterns of behavior in the sessions; we also went a step further in identifying functional relationships between therapist?s and client?s behaviors and ratified the possible existence of shaping processes in session. The study of interaction delivers an advance in the systematic study of the therapeutic relationship from a behavioural perspective, which in the long term will allow us to find the learning mechanisms responsible for the changes observed in clinical settings.

With the spread of electronic books, people can purchase books online easily and those who visit bookstores are getting fewer. The present study examined effects of two environmental prompts using a signboard and point-of-purchase advertising on customer's approach behavior towards a bookstore's special exhibition introducing books on developmental disorders using ABCA design. We observed the number of customers who approached the special exhibition area and saw the books. Following baseline(A), in Intervention 1(B), the signboard introducing the special exhibition was posted near the book store entrance to attract customers. In Intervention 2(C), the point-of-purchase advertising was added and displayed in the special exhibition area. As a result, in Intervention 1, the average number of customer's approach behavior toward the special exhibition increased by 47.6 % compared to Baseline 1. In Intervention 2, the customer's approach behavior increased by 65.3 % compared to Baseline 1. In Baseline 2(A), there was a gradual decline in the number of customer's approach behavior, although the overall mean remained higher than that of the initial baseline, perhaps reflecting the overall seasonal increase in customer's in December. In sum, the signboard and the point-of-purchase advertising contributed toward the increase in the number of customer's approach behavior

Behavioral coaching has often proven more effective in improving a variety of sports than standard coaching. This study investigated the effect of behavioral coaching on archery form and its score. Two female university students in the archery club participated in a behavioral coaching program. To evaluate the behavior change, a multiple baseline design across subjects was used with three phases; baseline (A), intervention (B), and follow-up (A). The shooting skill was divided into five component skills for each participant. In intervention (B), their forms were videotaped for observation and assessment of the five components. Prior to each new session, the trainer gave performance feedback from the previous session and then gave instructions for the current session. The percentage of correct component skills performed and shooting score (percentage points) were calculated for each player at each session. The results indicated that behavioral coaching improved the percentage of correct component skills performed in both participants. However, their shooting scores did not show corresponding improvements. Feedback and instructions were effective for improving archery form but the form did not immediately link to better scores. Training in fluency and concentration is the next goal in behavioral coaching of archery.

Nohgaku is a classic form of Japanese theater that continues to be performed today. Nohgaku performers wear formal montsuki kimono accompanied by hakama on the stage. The present study examined the effect of a behavioral intervention package for improving the accuracy of kimono-wearing by using an ABCA design. Participants were 3 male students who were junior members of the Nohgaku club of a university in Japan. Trainer was the first author, a chief, senior Nohgaku performer. After baseline (A), the intervention consisted of 2 parts, “Intervention 1(B)” and its improved version “Intervention 2(C)”. Correct shape in montsuki kimono was divided into 10 components. The intervention package consisted of instruction, modeling, behavioral rehearsal, feedback, and self-monitoring. The percentage of correct component skills performed was calculated for each participant in each session. After the intervention, the percentage of correct component skills performed improved in all 3 participants. Independent expert judges also evaluated post-intervention photographs of all 3 participants’ shape in kimono as being more "elegant" than those from pre-intervention. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the behavioral training in kimono-wearing. Follow-up observation in the actual theater indicated maintenance of acquired skills. Further study is necessary to improve the fluency of kimono-wearing.

Analysis of the "rules' emitted by the therapist in different therapy cases.

With the recent advent of handheld smart phones as platforms for user-developed applications, there has been an online explosion of professional tools designed to increase efficiency and productivity in the workplace. One potential problem with early adoption of these tools is that some have the opposite effect of that intended, they slow the professional down. Once bitten, twice shy— professionals can then become hesitant to abandon practices and tools that already work. By training them to interact with those tools which are helpful, a behavior scientist can set a reinforcement trap to capture technological use. The purpose of this paper is to compare some current data collection methods and with potential tools available online for behavior analysts. These comparisons will be discussed in an effort to provide easily accessible information to disseminate behavioral packages which take advantage of some of the latest technological advances that are currently on the market.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) techniques are well documented in the literature as effective interventions for individuals who display problem behavior. For many special educators this training is critical. Providing training to educators living in remote areas or countries where expertise is limited is a challenge. The purpose of the current study was to assess the acquisition of Functional Behavior Analysis (FBA) procedures for special education teachers after participation in training program via videoconferencing, in which the training site and the remote site were connected through the internet. Four special education teachers in Saudi Arabia who did not have previous training in FBA methods participated in the study. They received three hours of group training followed by individualized feedback from a graduate student, under the supervision of a BCBA and faculty member. Training involved role-playing, watching videotaped examples of correct implementation, and reading materials. Results indicate that all participants mastered the skills across at least two of the conditions with one participant demonstrating mastery across all four of the conditions. One participant then entered a generalization phase whereby implementing FBA procedures with a student with Autism.

This presentation reviews popular theories of gender and their present insufficiency in addressing gendered problem behaviors. The functionally inadequate assumptions of political structuralism are exposed, including mentalism, humanism, and utopianism. Functional contextualism is proposed as an alternative criterion for assessing the usefulness of concepts related to gendered behavior. By extension, the radical behaviorist theory of environmental selection is used to explain the emergence of sexually dimorphic physical and behavioral tendencies between the genders. The possible environmental antecedents of sexual assault, domestic violence, social anxiety, and paraphilias are conceptualized in operational terms, such that a functional analysis of such situations could be conducted. Behavior analysis is discussed as a potential treatment for individuals who have difficulty initiating or maintaining relationships, or find themselves engaged in dysfunctional patterns of interaction with partners. Finally, the utility of an ecological inductive analysis of human gendered behavior is presented as a functionally viable alternative to structural theories of gender.

Income may be conceived as the amount of money available for a period of time, and it may be spent or saved. In economics, if income is above its previous historic peak, it is called seasonal; if below it is called cyclical. Savings tend to increase during seasonal income periods and vary during cyclical periods. One economic theory states that such variability is due to income uncertainties, and that the savings generated during cyclical periods, called precautionary, is controlled by the reduction of income uncertainty. The negative reinforcement of precautionary savings is determined by prudence, which may be understood as a motivational operation. Economic prudence may be exemplified by an experiment in which 24 undergraduate students took part in a betting game. During six sessions, each participant bet poker chips and had the option of depositing part of their individually owned chips ("income") in a savings box. Once deposited, they could neither be betted nor lost until the end of the experiment. These deposits mimic precautionary savings, since they reduce the risk of losing chips. All deposits occurred when individual income was cyclical, and none occurred during seasonal income. The reinforcement value of precautionary savings seemed to have changed as a function of income variations.

El propósito de este trabajo fue estudiar si el tiempo de demora que transcurre desde que un niño escucha a un adulto nombrar unas fotos hasta que se le pide al niño que nombre y seleccione esas fotos, influye en el número de respuestas de cada una de las dos operantes que emiten. Participaron una niña de 6 años y un chico de 17 años, con diagnóstico de autismo. Recibían enseñanza en una escuela basada en ABA y en casa, respectivamente. Ambos habían demostrado la capacidad verbal del naming completo consistente en nombrar y señalar una serie de objetos inmediatamente después de escuchar a un adulto decir su nombre en la presencia de los objetos. El procedimiento para inducir el naming completo consistió en presentar fases sucesivas de emparejamiento de la foto con la palabra hablada del adulto y seguida la prueba de tactos y selecciones. Se manipularon tres tiempos de demora para realizar las pruebas: un minuto, quince minutos y una hora; se alternaron el orden de las pruebas de tactos y selecciones. En la mitad de los conjuntos se probó primero el tacto y después la selección y en la otra mitad a la inversa. Cada conjunto tuvo dos fotos de 2 categorías. Con demoras de un minuto no se observaron diferencias en el orden en que se realizaron las pruebas. Cuando la demora fue de una hora y de quince minutos emergieron más respuestas al probar primero la selección y después el tacto que a la inversa. Con quince minutos se necesitaron menos ensayos de emparejamiento para probar la selección que a la inversa, aunque siempre emergió una de las operantes a partir de la otra . La demora es una variable importante al inducir el naming completo en niños que se encuentra ausente y tiene muchas implicaciones prácticas.

La afasia se entiende como una incapacidad parcial o total para usar el lenguaje por disfunción cerebral. Pacientes con problemas de afasia no llegan a desarrollar determinadas funciones verbales una vez que las han perdido. El objetivo del presente trabajo consistió en estudiar las capacidades verbales que mostraban dos pacientes de 16 y 32 años afectadas de afasia que asistían al servicio de logopedia de un hospital público de su ciudad. Se analizaron, desde un punto de vista funcional, las habilidades que mostraron en una evaluación estándar para pacientes con afasia. Posteriormente, se planificó una evaluación tomando como referencia el desarrollo de las capacidades verbales que hasta ahora se ha analizado en niños en los que se encuentran ausentes las funciones verbales. Los datos mostraron que habían perdido algunas capacidades verbales básicas como el repertorio de escucha avanzado o la conducta ecoica compleja. Se diseñó un programa de intervención para inducir capacidades verbales que les permitiera avanzar en otras habilidades verbales que resultaban básicas. Se concluye que la intervención con pacientes de afasia resulta mucho más efectiva cuando se aborda desde un análisis de las funciones verbales en lugar de un análisis formal con base neurológica y cognitiva.

This study evaluates a behavioral intervention for a 9-year-old girl with selective mutism. Intervention consisted of role-play and video self-modeling. The frequency of spoken initiations, responses to questions, and communication breakdowns was measured during three social situations (i.e., ordering in a restaurant, meeting new adults, and playing with new children) and in three community settings. Results demonstrated increases in spoken initiations and responses and decreases in communication breakdowns across all situations and settings. Selective mutism is a childhood disorder in which speech occurs in some environments but not in other environments (APA, 2000). For example, a child may speak normally at home, but not speak at school or the community park. Estimates of prevalence vary but are typically less than 1% of the population (Viana, Beidel, & Rabian, 2009). Selective mutism may result in social isolation and academic failure (Kolvin & Goodyer, 1982). Previous interventions for selective mutism have involved contingency management (e.g., Watson & Kramer, 1992), practice or priming (e.g., O’Reilly et al., 2008), shaping (e.g., Masten, Stacks, Caldwell-Colbert, & Jackson, 1996), and systematic desensitization (e.g., Rye & Ullman, 1999). The current study involves a behavioral intervention for selective mutism consisting of role-play and video self-modeling (VSM). Role-play involves practicing the desired behavior and receiving feedback and reinforcement. Role-play has been shown to improve social skills in people with intellectual disability (e.g., Huang & Cuvo, 1997). VSM has been demonstrated as a potentially efficient and effective intervention to improve social and communication skills in children with emotional and behavioral disorders (e.g., Baker, Lang, & O’Reilly, 2009) and autism spectrum disorders (McCoy & Hermansen, 2007). The combination of these intervention components would seem likely to be effective at improving speech in children with selective mutism. To date, we are unaware of any behavioral intervention studies for selective mutism in which the effects of intervention were evaluated outside of the school and across multiple community settings and social situations. In this study, speech was measured during three social situations and in three community settings following role-play and VSM.

The purpose of this summary was to show the results obtained during 6 months of treatment in a three year old girl diagnosed with autism. The intervention received was intensive, early and with a curriculum based on the development of verbal behavior. The main goal of treatment was the establishment of a functional language. We measured (1) the total objectives learned on a weekly basis in all levels of development (cognitive, social/emotional, communication, motor and self sufficiency and (2) the acquisition of verbal operants (mands, tacts and intraverbals). The data are presented in two graphs as cumulative objectives attained from the onset of the treatment to date. The results show significant progress in acquisition and fluency of skills.

The purpose of this study was to assess whether the procedures designed by Dr. Douglas Greer team to teach generalized auditory matching was effective to teaching the skill a child with severe autism and serious difficulties in acquiring the listener component of naming. The results showed that the procedure was effective for our participant.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of using textual prompt for teaching mands to a child with autism who showed severe difficulties in the acquisition of operant through echoic to mand procedure. The procedure was to replace echoic prompt for textual prompt that we were fading slowly learning to get the basic mands water and bread. Results demonstrated that the incorporation of textual prompt was effective.

The purpose of this intervention was to determine if presenting a specific procedure (frames of sameness) to a child with a history of difficulty to acquire tacts, was effective. The frames of sameness were a variation of the Naming procedure (Greer). This procedure consisted of presenting four verbal operants (a) object discrimination, (b) intraverbal, (c) identical matching and (d) tact, in a sequential order, using multiple exemplars of items within a category. The pictures were presented on a computer screen. The participant was an 14 year old boy with autism who was non-verbal and who was receiving a home behavioral intervention after school hours. We did an initial baseline for tacts. Once the participant achieved the established criteria for all verbal operants, we conducted a second test to see if the tact had emerged. In this study, we found that the procedure was effective to teach tacts to this boy.